The Pall Mall Gazette

The Pall Mall Gazette was started on 7 February 1865. George Murray Smith founded the paper with Frederick Greenwood as its first editor. It ran as a daily London paper until 1923 when it merged with the Evening Standard. The publication began as a Conservative paper with Smith at its helm. During its run under different owners, the paper was at times supportive of the Liberal Party and at other times supportive of Conservative politics.

The Pall Mall Gazette enjoyed contributions from such notable authors as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and Robert Louis Stevenson. You can read a review by Oscar Wilde on a lecture by Whistler here.

The paper tackled important issues of the day. For example, as editor, William Stead reported on child prostitution in London, which led to a change in the legal age of consent from 13 to 16. His detailed coverage of this epidemic represents an early example of investigative journalism. Stead is responsible for the introduction of the interview into British newspaper reporting.